Race Discrimination -- Canada, Race discrimination, Indigenous peoples -- Civil rights -- Canada, Indigenous peoples -- Civil rights, Indigenous peoples -- Legal status laws etc. -- Canada, Indigenous peoples -- Legal status laws etc., Indigenous peoples -- Canada -- Claims, Indigenous peoples -- Claims, Indigenous peoples -- Land tenure -- Canada, Indigenous peoples -- Land tenure, Indigenous self-government -- Canada, Indigenous self-government, Indigenous title -- Canada, Indigenous title, Indian Act (Canada) 

This paper surveys the history of the federal and provincial laws discriminating against aboriginal people. While the primary focus is on Indians and the federal Indian Act, federal and provincial homestead and franchise laws are also examined. The first section, dealing with encroachments on civil and political rights, reviews the history of federal and provincial denial of the right to vote; federal interference with indigenous systems of self-government; federal and provincial restrictions on Indian property rights; federal restrictions on the sale of agricultural products; and special legal disabilities in the area of wills and estates. The second section reviews federal policy on Indian status and the resulting impact on cultural rights as recognized in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The section examines special aspects of the criminal law that have applied to Indian people, from extensive restrictions on the possession of liquor to the prohibition of land claims suits and certain cultural practices.